1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink jet printing machine, more particularly, to an apparatus for cleaning a nozzle of such an ink jet printer, including a disposable cartridge containing a cleaning agent or liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ink jet printers have become more and more sophisticated and are finding wide use in numerous fields. They enable high speed printing, use of ordinary paper for the printout, and even high speed color printing. Regarding use of ordinary paper, in particular, use may be made of various kinds of paper, since the ink jet nozzle does not come into contact with the printing media.
However, ink jet printers suffer from some problems. For example, maintenance is more difficult compared with other types of printers. Particularly, the ink jet nozzles are often clogged with ink. To overcome this problem, there have been studies conducted to improve the ink itself, but the problem of clogging has still not been completely solved.
Thus, to prevent the ink jet nozzles from clogging, the nozzles must be cleaned with a cleaning liquid when the printing operation is started or finished or during the printing operation. For this purpose, a known printer is provided with a cleaning liquid tank, which supplies cleaning liquid to the ink jet nozzles, and a waste liquid tank, which collects the used liquid after the cleaning. The printer thus must have a large space inside to accommodate these two tanks. Handling of each of these tanks, further, is troublesome.